AMHERST — Now in his fourth year as Amherst College’s 20th president, Michael A. Elliott is continuing to push for a synergy between the college campus and the adjacent downtown area, including its shops, restaurants and salons.
With the college employing 2,700, numerous tourists from around the world arriving at the college-owned Emily Dickinson Museum and 10,000 visitors coming to the campus annually, Elliott says the success of the business community and college are intertwined.
“We want to contribute to an economically vibrant downtown, for Amherst to be a destination of art, history and culture,” Elliott said, offering the opening remarks at the Amherst Business Improvement District’s annual meeting and luncheon, held at the Inn on Boltwood on Nov. 20.
“The ambitions are not just for Amherst College, they are for Amherst, Massachusetts,” Elliott said.
Elliott explained how the $2.5 million, three-year commitment from Amherst College to Amherst’s public schools, fire and ambulance services, and downtown infrastructure, announced in February, is about making Amherst a great place to be for the long term.
“We need the schools to be successful for our faculty and staff to envision raising their children here,” Elliott said.
The luncheon, which brought out about 65 people, was an opportunity for Amherst BID Executive Director John Page to give an overview of the successes for the part of Amherst that has 52 restaurants and 22 retailers and where 27,000 light bulbs are strung for the holiday season.
Page said there is clear evidence that restaurants have bounced back from the pandemic, with revenues continuing to increase. The BID is also now paying for 35 hours a week of street cleaning in Amherst center, where the Block Party in September brought an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 attendees.
Also, a $30,000 grant secured by state Rep. Mindy Domb will advance a performance space on the Town Common. Already, the BID is putting on a growing number of concerts during the warm weather months.
Two of those who have opened spaces in the past year credited the BID, and Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, with support.
Masuda Abdullah, who runs Masuda’s Cafe on Kellogg Avenue, said the restaurant is not only a place for people to eat, but where community is being built.
“Amherst has just been so welcoming to us. They have come to us with open arms,” Abdullah said.
“We want Masuda’s Cafe to be an extension of everyone’s home,” she said.
Anika Lopes founded Ancestral Bridges so people could learn about the Black and Afro Indigenous experience in Amherst from 1759 on, a history that otherwise would be wiped out.
Now, with a dedicated museum on Cottage Street, Lopes said she is heartened by how the community is being uplifted. “As hard as they try, arts and culture will never be erased,” Lopes said.
Lopes also referenced her involvement in the recent visit by Mona May, the costume designer for the movie “Clueless,” and how a 30th anniversary tour added Amherst as a stop, along with Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
The luncheon also featured a recorded message from Aaron Vega, the incoming CEO of the Western Mass Economic Development Council, who said he intends to lean into the economy of restaurants, farms and food science at the University of Massachusetts.
Vega emphasized that increasing the population is critical, understanding that the region is not only competing with other states, but Boston.
“Population growth is something I’m also really focused on,” Vega said.
That concept of spurring population growth and providing more places to live was noted by Elliott, who said the college is in the midst of a planning process to modernize housing and alleviate pressure on the town’s housing stock, ensuring that its employees have an opportunity to live in town, and putting $250,000 toward a new public works headquarters or fire station will also improve the lives of residents.
Elliott said that for the college to be successful the town has to be a vibrant, attractive place, and a great place for students to learn.
A liberal arts education, he said, is about preparing students to be part of democracy, which they learn by getting off campus. But he acknowledged that a generation of students are turned off by governance and politics due to the national scene, and that colleges must address the skepticism and mistrust in higher education that some have.
Elliott reflected on his first visit as a prospective student at Amherst College, arriving from Tucson, Arizona. “Frankly, I was seduced by the New England small-town charm,” Elliott said.
He then made quips about his time as a student, recalling getting an assignment from the college newspaper that required him to spend several hours covering Amherst Town Meeting.
Elliott said he wants people to think of Amherst College as an asset to all. “We want this to be a place you feel comfortable in,” Elliott said.
Referencing the oft-heard expression that in Amherst, only the “h” is silent, he suggested when they do come to campus to make their voices heard.
“You’re always invited to speak up at Amherst College,” Elliott said.